Endangered in Indiana: Will these animals survive?

Indianapolis Prize draws attention to conservation efforts worldwide.

But you can help endangered species closer to home.

by Shari Rudavsky, Indianapolis Star

On Wednesday, the Indianapolis Zoo will announce the winner of its 2016 Indianapolis Prize, a $250,000 award given every two years to an animal conservation scientist. The six finalists this year have devoted their lives to saving species around the world: Large mammals in the Arctic. Penguins in Argentina. Birds and turtles in Mauritius. Seahorses in the Philippines. Marine life. Snow leopards.

But one does not have to travel far to find endangered animal species. Several Indiana species, from mussels to a two-foot salamander, appear on state and or federal endangered lists.

Some animals, such as the trumpeter swan, appear on the state’s endangered list because they exist in such small numbers, said Warren Gartner, a conservation education supervisor with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources’s Division of Fish & Wildlife. However, these swans have always been rare in Indiana.

But there are many species whose numbers have been dwindling over time.